Iran Lures Chinese With New Energy Deals

Iran is inviting Chinese oil companies to invest in refineries and a pipeline worth more than $42.8 billion in the Middle Eastern country according to reports. The National Iranian Oil Refinery & Distribution Company is seeking $30 billion for the construction of seven new refining plants in the country’s west, the South China Morning Post reported today, citing Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum.

Chinese companies are also encouraged to expand some of Iran’s existing refineries and build a 1640-kilometre oil pipeline from Neka on the Caspian Sea in the north to Jask on the Gulf of Oman in the south, Bloomberg quoted the report as saying.

The Iranian government is offering foreign investors a 5% discount on the prices of crude supplied to the refineries, an eight-year tax exemption and the right to own as much as 80% percent of the new refining projects, it said.